


Learning x and x Earning

by cloudcraft



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Gen, High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-04-10 23:29:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4412105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudcraft/pseuds/cloudcraft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Killua and Alluka enroll in school in an isolated corner of the Yorubian Continent. Gon manages to find them. Takes place in the Hunter x Hunter canon universe, two years after the Elections Arc. Based on headcanon and art by feriowind!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Idea and inspiration credit goes to [feriowind](http://feriowind.tumblr.com/tagged/gon-and-killua-go-to-school), check them out!

Regardless of how much sleep he'd gotten the night before, it was Killua's policy to get in a few extra minutes of sleep during morning roll call in homeroom. Without fail, one of the other students would jostle his desk right before his name was called.

"Killua Rundell?"

"Here," Killua said, lifting his head as if he'd been attentive all along. His homeroom teacher shot him a pointed stare before moving on with the list. Killua let his head drop back onto the desk and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of the cicadas outside. It was half way through the first semester of the year and he was already completely over being a first year in high school. As it turned out, it wasn't much more interesting than being in junior high. It was only the uniforms that changed.

"Alright, we've got a transfer student joining us today from Yorknew City." That prompted a wave of murmurs. Killua opened one eye. The teacher leaned over his podium towards the door, waving the new student inside. "Come on in and introduce yourself."

From his position on the desk, the first thing he saw was a shock of black spikes poking out over the heads of the other students. That was all it took. Killua shot up in his seat to see Gon striding to the front of the classroom, grinning like a crazy person. He wore the same summer uniform as the rest of them, a white short-sleeved, collared shirt and navy slacks. The navy tie was missing from his neck and was instead balled up in his pocket, the ends dangling out from the side. The murmurs multiplied. Killua realized that he was gripping the sides of his desk hard enough to crack the wood.

"That's enough now." The teacher hushed his class with a wave of his hands. Behind him, Gon finished up writing his name in neat Hunter script on the board. Only it wasn't quite his name.

"My name's Gon Duras," he said, loud enough to be heard in the next classroom over. "Nice to meet you!"

In lieu of a bow, he turned straight to Killua and split his face in a toothy smile. In almost complete unison, the rest of the class turned to follow Gon's gaze. Killua was halfway out of his seat when the teacher cleared his throat.

"There's no need for you to stand, Mr. Rundell, the seat behind you will do just fine. Take a seat behind him, Mr. Duras."

"Okay!" 

  


"Yorknew? Seriously? Who would believe that you're from the city?"

The moment that homeroom had ended, Killua grabbed Gon and pulled him down the hall to the teaching supplies room. Students weren't allowed inside and Killua had been constantly told off for entering without permission, but it was the only place he could guarantee a degree of privacy.

"Haha, that was just what the papers I got from Kurapika said. It's mafia stuff, so I guess Yorknew was the easiest for them." Gon wandered to the other end of the room, really more of a closet, and poked his head out the window. "But wow, this place is huge. Is Alluka's junior high that building over there?"

Killua grabbed Gon by the shoulder and yanked him back, pulling him around to meet his eyes.

"Nobody knows you're here, right?" His voice was low. Even if it was Gon, especially because it was Gon, it would have been easy for news to reach Illumi's ears.

"Nobody besides Kurapika and Leorio. I dropped off the grid two months ago and made sure your family wasn't tailing me before I enrolled. Oh, and Bisky knows. But she already knew you were here, that's how I found out in the first place."

Killua sighed. They had needed somebody they could trust to play the role of Mrs. Rundell and drop them off on the first day of school. Using her true appearance, nobody wanted to risk asking why her children looked nothing like her. Still, knowing that Gon hadn't been followed was enough to let him relax. He let go of Gon's shoulder and leaned against a stack of cardboard boxes.

"So, why are you here?" he asked. Gon blinked at him.

"To see you, Killua," he answered, like Killua was silly for asking. Killua blushed, but Gon continued before he could get a word in. "And, well. I failed the last three math tests the remote school sent to me and Mito-san said I should try going to a real school to see if that helps. So I'll learn the math as Gon Duras, then go home and pass the tests as Gon Freecss." He beamed, puffing out his chest as if he'd just solved world hunger.

Killua couldn't help but laugh. Gon was taller (which made sense, they were both sixteen now) and tanner, a line of freckles spread across his nose that hadn't been there before. When he spread his shoulders like that, the shirt buttons looked like they'd snap off his body in a second. The uniform was clearly designed for amateur athletes at best, not pro Hunters. Certainly not Gon Freecss.

"Well, we should get back to class before first period. We've got social studies first period and I'm guessing you don't have your books yet."

"Nope," Gon confirmed cheerily. "I'll share books with you."

"Figured as much," Killua said. He took Gon's hand and started to head back into the hall.

"Hey, Killua?" Gon asked. Killua looked over his shoulder to see Gon smiling at him, sillouhetted in the summer sun. "It's good to finally see you smile. I missed you."

Killua felt Gon squeeze on his hand. The gesture was so earnest that he couldn't bring himself to take his hand away.

"Yeah, me too." 

  


Before lunch time rolled around, word had already reached the junior high about the muscular first-year transfer student at the high school, who was apparently a friend of the Rundell siblings. When Killua arrived at the courtyard where he ate lunch with Alluka, he found her surrounded by a gaggle of her friends. Their uniforms were similarly navy and white, but featured a calf-length skirt and a red neck ribbon. Alluka wore her hair in a thick ponytail, like a few of her friends.

"Wow, Alluka sure is popular," Gon said.

"That's one way to look at it," Killua said.

As soon as she spotted them, Alluka waved brightly. Gon waved back and a few of the girls fell on each other giggling. Killua rolled his eyes and made a pleading gesture to Alluka, who held up her hands pacifyingly and turned back to her friends.

"I think my big brother wants some space today," he heard her say in a very poor whisper. "Gon is really nice, you can just talk to him next time you see him."

"Aw, okay." "Get his number for me!" "Ask if he likes sweets."

They fluttered away like bits of tissue paper in the wind, chattering as they went. Killua plopped down beside Alluka, who in turn rose to her feet and launched herself at Gon. Needing no warning, Gon caught her in his arms and twirled her around easily, knocking off both her shoes onto the grass. The two of them spun and laughed like they'd never been apart.

"It's good to see you, Alluka," Gon said, once they stopped spinning. Then, in a whisper: "How's Nanika?"

"She's good. Hopefully you can see her soon," Alluka whispered back. She raised her voice again: "I'm glad to see you too. What do you think of the school?"

"It's great! It's got you and Killua in it!"

Alluka laughed as Gon set her down on the grass. She blinked, realizing she was standing in her socks. But Killua had already fetched her shoes and held them out to her, smiling wryly.

Lunch was blissfully uneventful. It was Alluka's turn to make lunch for them that day, so Killua and Alluka scarfed down seafood spaghetti, sauteed vegetables, and grilled fish with onions. Killua's lunch box was double the size of Alluka's, with a special compartment for cake. Gon watched wide-eyed as the siblings tore through their meal. He only had a box of meat buns from the cafeteria, but they nearly finished before him.

"Killua really rubbed off on you, huh," he said, offering Alluka a light round of applause.

"When Oniichan and I moved around a lot, we had to eat fast sometimes," Alluka explained. She reached into her bag and pulled out a container with a little extra spaghetti. "Do you want the rest of this?"

Gon's eyes lit up. Killua watched with great satisfaction as Gon experienced first hand what an amazing cook his sister was. On the far end of the courtyard, he caught sight of a few second years from the high school hanging around the entryway. Killua narrowed his eyes at them, but remained where he was. He still had a slice of chocolate cake to take care of. 

  


It turned out that Gon's placement in his class was not a coincidence. There was an additional instructor attached to their homeroom who specialized in teaching students with learning disabilities. When Killua had entered the junior high school, he'd been assigned a similar instructor because his handwriting was crap and he left half of his assessment exam blank. Because of that, he'd stuck out more than he wanted to at first. He learned quickly that the best way to remain unnoticed was to do just enough work for a passing grade, not enough to make it into the top scorers but not enough that he had to stay after school for supplementary lessons. With some help from Alluka (who taught her how to write so well?), even his handwriting marginally improved.

Gon had his first catch-up lesson after school in the library, so Killua walked him there. They caught an unusual number of stares in the hallway, more than Killua was used to, but Gon was all smiles. If anyone waved, he waved back.

"What did they say you had to work on?" Killua asked.

"Basically everything." Gon laughed. "I couldn't use my records from home so I had to take whatever transcript Kurapika could get for me. I think I've got bad scores even in my best subjects."

"Which are..?"

"Composition and social studies."

Killua blinked. That was unexpected.

"Well, you'll catch up soon enough. Come find me when you're finished, I'll come back here after I walk Alluka home."

The two of them parted with a brief high-five before the entrance to the library. Killua turned around and started heading back the way he came, going on a hunch and silencing his footsteps. As he rounded the corner, he came face-to-face with a group of third year students, who jumped at his sudden appearance. As if to compensate for that sorry response, they squared their shoulders at him to display their abundant confidence. The tallest one at the front cocked his buzzcut-shorn head at him, waiting for an apology.

"Whoops," Killua said, slipping by them on the left. "My bad." It wasn't the appropriate amount of respect that a first year ought to show to his upperclassmen, but none of them took any action to contest it.

"Watch where you're going next time," Buzzcut said, shooting a stare over his shoulder. They eyed him, but didn't pursue. Killua didn't know or care much about the school's extracurricular activities, but he could guess from their physiques that they were in a martial arts club, probably judo. He didn't recall hearing that the judo guys were particularly rowdy, so why were they going looking for a fight?

Well, it was their own funeral if they tried to jump Gon after his lesson. The best they could hope for would be that Gon's brain was fried from math.

Killua trotted down the hallway and down the stairs towards the front gate, where Alluka was waiting.

  


Walking Alluka home was one of Killua's favorite parts of the day. She always asked him how his day went and told him all about hers, elaborating on even the mundane details of her friends' crushes. When she brought a friend home with them to study, Killua still liked to listen to her chatting casually with kids her age. Once they made it back, Killua didn't bother taking off his shoes. He explained that he was going to meet Gon after his lesson, provided he hadn't short-circuited. Alluka just smiled and said she'd make an extra portion for dinner.

"You don't have to do that," Killua started to say. Alluka leaned over and poked him on the tip of his nose.

"That's right, I don't have to do anything that I don't want to. Thanks to you, Oniichan." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you both at dinner."

"Yeah," Killua said, smiling. He was prepared to fight anyone who said that Alluka wasn't the best little sister in the world. "You have your pager?"

Alluka gently patted the side of her blouse, under which was a cloth money belt containing a small pager. Killua had rigged it so that if Alluka pressed down on it hard enough, it would automatically send a distress signal to a matching pager under his shirt. It was the one condition that allowed him and Alluka to be apart.

"Alright. See you later." 

  


Gon found him surprisingly quickly, considering they were both masking their auras. Killua first heard him coming from the sound of his shoes clanking against the drain pipe. When Gon's head popped out from beneath the edge of the roof, Killua was already grinning and waving from his perch beside the water tank.

"Yo."

With a grunt, Gon hoisted the rest of himself over the parapet and onto the roof of the school. He brushed off his uniform, which had already accumulated some dirt on the knees of his slacks (where exactly did he go looking first?), and glanced around the roof.

"I was hoping we'd have space to spar up here, but it's actually a little narrow." He looked back up at Killua. "You think they'd let us use the gym?"

"No way in hell. Get up here, I want to show you something." Killua gestured him over and Gon hopped up obligingly, settling down on the concrete ledge beside him. The sun was getting lower and the sky began to warm, turning shades of orange and pink near the clouds on the horizon. Around the school's hilltop plateau stood an expanse of trees, bisected by a forest road that led to the nearest town. From the roof, they could just make out the backs of commuter students on bicycles, headed home after their club activities.

"That's my place, over there." Killua pointed out to the thick of the forest, far to the right of the main road. Gon had to squint to catch a glimpse of a brown-tiled roof behind the cover of the trees.

"You don't live in the dorms?" he asked.

"I thought about it. But I have to take jobs sometimes, to pay for us to keep going here. If I went missing from class and the dorms for too long, someone would notice. Besides, it's better for Alluka and Nanika if they can have some space to themselves. This way, Nanika can come out sometimes and nobody will ask stupid questions about Alluka being in the girls dorm."

Gon nodded, listening intently. Killua didn't recall Alluka having that conversation with Gon, but at some point Gon had figured it out on his own.

"It's not too expensive to pay for school and the house?" Gon's eyebrows quirked up in concern.

"It's a pain in the ass, to be honest. But it's worth it. This place is so expensive because it's in the middle of nowhere and they'll take anybody with the money, no questions asked." A good handful of the student body was there against their will, usually under compulsion of the law or their families. Luckily, it made Killua and Alluka's parental absence stand out less. Killua glanced at Gon out of the corner of his eye. "You're not going to get too bored out here in Nowheresville?"

"I don't think so." Gon looked out at the surrounding landscape with a far-off look in his eyes, the kind he got when he was thinking earnestly about something. Killua let him have a few moments of quiet, when Gon raised his arm suddenly and pointed towards a small mountain range in the distance. It, along with the much bigger mountain range behind them, separated the school's hilly region from the rest of the Yorbian continent.

"Have you ever been to that lake?" Gon asked suddenly. Killua's eyes settled on a tiny patch of blue near the foothills of the mountains.

"No. But I can guess what you're thinking. We can go this Saturday if you don't have too much catch-up work."

Gon groaned, plopping his head into his hands.

"I'd almost forgotten about that," he moaned. Killua laughed and clapped him on the back.

"Gon Freecss, Pro Hunter, brought to his knees by homework," he said. He gave Gon a single consoling shoulder rub. "Anything troublesome besides math?"

"Science." Gon sighed. "I get the concepts but the numbers throw me off."

"Ah, I'll help you out with that. The tests were pretty easy, if I remember correctly."

"Really?" Gon lifted his head, his expression bright. Killua chuckled, but stopped when something occurred to him.

"I don't mind helping, but I feel like you could handle it on your own," Killua said. Gon opened his mouth to protest, but Killua lifted his hand to shush him. "Hear me out. You've got this crazy ability to concentrate on things, like nobody else I've ever met. Do you remember that time in Rokario when Bisky made us practice our Ren every day for three hours straight? With literally nothing else to do?"

Gon grinned at the memory, nodding. Killua went on.

"I remember getting annoyed, but you took it super seriously. And we both did it, three hours straight without getting distracted. That's _hard_ , Gon. If you can focus on that, you can focus on some dumb old math homework."

"I don't know. I felt like I could do anything back then," Gon said, his voice going quiet. He looked out towards the forest again, perhaps remembering something. But he perked up in a moment, turning back towards Killua. "But when you say it, I feel like you're right, I can do it. I'll give it my best shot tomorrow." Gon swung his legs off the side of the ledge, hands braced at his sides. "You know, Killua, it sucks that I won't get to live in the dorms with you, but I'm glad we're at the same school."

Killua knew he was blushing, but he laughed it off awkwardly.

"Well, you're coming for dinner with Alluka and me tonight, so that has to count for something."

Gon's eyes widened and he jumped off the water tank ledge onto the rooftop, immediately spinning on the balls of his feet to face Killua again.

"Seriously? That's awesome, her spaghetti from lunch was so good! Is she waiting for us right now? We should get going!"

Killua nearly laughed at Gon's over-enthusiasm, but it was too contagious to mock. He leapt off the ledge himself, jogging to the edge of the roof.

"Yeah, we don't want to keep her waiting! I'll race you there—I shouldn't even need Godspeed to beat you."

"Big words coming from someone who's been studying instead of training." Gon grinned and planted his foot on the parapet, leaning into the stretch. "Ready?"

"Go!"

To the students down below, it looked like two enormous birds had burst from on top of the school building, diving over the school gates and into the forest below. Even the students nearest to the tree line had no idea where they went. By the time they started looking, the two of them were long gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gon and Killua get in a spot of trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have made this clear earlier, but I'm using Japanese schools as the primary model for this fic. (With occasional elements from Western schools thrown in at my convenience. :P) Thank you for all the kudos and kind comments!

Gon first bumped up against the rules in a fairly inoffensive and characteristic way: having too much fun. Before his first PE class, he was practically bouncing on his heels in anticipation.

"So we just get to run around for a full period and that'll be a passing grade?"

"Well, they might ask us to do something," Killua checked the board. "Looks like today is soccer drills."

Two classes worth of students in gym uniforms filed out onto the field in front of the school, griping about the heat all the way. The PE teacher divided the class into pairs for passing practice, lining them up in two long rows across the field with partners facing one another. Killua swapped places with Gon's partner, who seemed relieved and unsure of what to make of Gon's excessive enthusiasm. They were on the end, so they had to wait the longest to get their equipment. As soon as the teacher passed Killua a ball, he started juggling it on his toes with a grin. It had been a while since he'd been able to blow off some steam during PE. He'd determined a while back that none of the staff were nen users, so what they didn't understand couldn't hurt them.

"Just basics, no hatsu," he called. "You ready, Gon?"

"Got it!" Gon called back, jogging back a few feet from the rest of his row.

Killua wound up, savoring the feeling of his aura coming to life, and whacked the ball across the pitch with the side of his foot. It shot like a bullet over the grass, hurtling directly at Gon. The sudden sound of Killua striking the ball alone turned several heads, but Killua kept his eyes on his partner.

Gon focused his aura in his right lower leg, using the side of his calf to receive the ball. For a few moments the ball seemed to continue spinning in place against his leg, the driving force of Killua's kick competing with Gon's attempt to force it back. With a heavy grunt, Gon brought his knee up and sent the ball flying directly up into the air, making a rocket-shaped arc high above the field.

"You got it?" he called to Killua.

"I got it!" Killua called back. As the ball came falling down, Killua hopped off the ground and headbutted it gingerly over in Gon's direction. "Your turn!"

Gon bounced it off his foot, then trapped it beneath his heel. With the ball on the ground again, he started to wind up his own kick.

"Here I go..!" 

  


The rest of the class watched awestruck as Gon unleashed a fierce kick to rival Killua's. The ball's launch into movement was too quick for anyone to see, but they heard the crack of it whipping through the air like a jet plane. And sure enough, Killua received it. He even managed it more gracefully than Gon had.

The PE teacher collected herself more quickly than her students, who were simply standing slack-jawed with their soccer balls under their arms. She turned to face them and waved her hands, drawing their attention away from the two superhumans at the end of the row.

"Alright, nothing to see here, kids!" she barked, followed by a shrill blast from her whistle. "Let's see some passes!" The kids who were closest to her flinched and got to work on the passing assignment, albeit somewhat dazedly. The rest of them gradually followed suit, only stopping occasionally to watch Killua and Gon out of the corners of their eyes. She spent most of the period roaming between pairs of students, knocking them back on task when their attention drifted back to the far end of the row again. Before she had a chance to talk to Killua and Gon about their flashy display, the period was over.

She blew her whistle twice, signaling the students to go back inside and change. The rest of the kids started to shuffle back towards the school building, but Gon and Killua kept at it. Gon received a particularly vicious kick from Killua that left him bent over at the waist and panting, sweat running down his face. She blew her whistle again, but Gon simply set the ball down in front of him and wound up for another pass.

"Hey, boys!" she called, cupping her hands around the sides of her mouth. "Period's over, pack it up!"

Gon's foot slowed on its trajectory towards the ball and he looked up at her, a frown etched on his reddening face.

"I'm not done yet, we only just got warmed up," he said.

The teacher glanced to Killua, who wore a similarly stubborn expression. It made her uneasy, but she stood her ground. She was a teacher and she wasn't about to let her authority crumble to a pair of first years, however athletically monstrous they were.

"Doesn't matter, the period's over and you've got ten minutes to be changed and in your seat for your next class." She folded her arms over her chest. "The same goes for you, Mr. Rundell."

"Wanna call it a draw, Gon?" Killua asked, rolling his shoulders.

"No way! I know I can get one up on you," Gon called back. "Just tell her that we'll go to class later!"

Killua snorted on his own laughter and the teacher felt a nerve pop in her forehead. If she didn't set an example now, these boys were only going to get worse as the semester went on.

"If you don't return that ball and get back inside immediately, I'll be seeing both of you in detention," she said, holding out her hand. "Do I make myself clear?"

"I don't even know what that is!" Gon shot back. Killua lost it, doubling over and sputtering in helpless laughter.

In the end, Gon conceded to ending their match because Killua was laughing too hard to continue. He returned to their classroom pouting. Gon was later informed by their homeroom teacher as to what detention meant, and also that they had it first thing after school.

  


The last bell had scarcely sounded when Killua heard a commotion outside of their homeroom windows. One of the students closest to the door leaned over to listen, then turned back to the rest of the class.

"Rundell, Duras, I think they're waiting for you," she said.

"Oh for heaven's sake," their homeroom teacher grumbled. He slammed his notebooks—their notebooks—on his podium and stomped over to the door, throwing it open with a shout.

"Clear out of here, go on! Rundell and Duras have a detention to get to and you've got practice, so scram! Do I need to call your homeroom teachers here?"

While their teacher ranted at the quickly-dispersing crowd outside, Killua leaned over his face to face Gon.

"Did you piss somebody off today?" he asked. Gon scrunched up his face in thought.

"Don't think so. Only that one teacher. She was pretty mad. Maybe they're fans of hers?"

"Doubt it. Come on, we can grab our stuff afterward." Killua stood up, stretching his arms over his head. "Just bring some paper for whatever essay they make us write."

Gon rummaged through his desk and produced a notebook, beaten up and marked with doodles on the cover. Killua raised a brow. Was that from the previous student who used that desk?

"This looks like it'll do," Gon said, flipping through the mostly blank pages. "Killua, have you had detention before?"

"Just once. It's boring but not the worst thing in the world."

Gon began to pester him about the reason for his first detention as they left the classroom and headed downstairs towards the multipurpose room on the first floor. They came down towards the second years' floor and Killua slowed his step to a pause, looking down in confusion at the foot of the stairs. On the landing below them was a small group of second years, all staring directly at them. One of them stepped forward, a tall boy with a cleft chin.

"Duras! Rundell! We want to have a word."

At first, Gon turned around to see if the second years were addressing somebody standing behind them. Killua almost smacked his palm into his forehead—Gon still wasn't used to responding to their fake names. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice.

"What's up?" Gon asked, descending a few steps. The students below were a different bunch than the judo kids from yesterday, Killua noted. It was unusual for students of different years to interact, but he supposed that maybe the weird new transfer student was worth the older kids' attention. He slipped his hands in his pockets and ambled after Gon.

"We heard you and Rundell did some pretty crazy stuff during PE today—”

"We saw it from our classroom," one of the other ones chimed in.

"Ah, sorry about that," Gon laughed, scratching the back of his head. "But—”

"Please!" Cleft Chin said, snapping his body into a low forward bow. "Consider joining the soccer team!" Like dominoes, the rest of the second years followed suit. Some of them even raised their hands with palms together, like they were at a temple.

"It would make a huge difference if you two were on the team!"

"We might actually win for once!"

"Ahaha.." Gon trailed off, taking a step back up the stairs. "Wow, I don't know what to say.."

"That's great of you to ask, but we're not interested," Killua said, crossing his arms over his chest.

A few bowed heads snapped up and shook furiously.

"Just one practice! Come to one practice and see if you like it!"

Killua glanced back up at Gon with a raised eyebrow. Gon shrugged, laughing awkwardly again.

"Seems a little irresponsible," he said.

"Yup," Killua agreed. He turned back down to the second years. "That's how it is, so—”

"Duras!! Rundell!!" somebody bellowed from down the hall. Killua heaved a sigh and Gon looked confused for another short moment before he remembered their fake names again. Charging down from the other end of the corridor came the same group of judo kids from yesterday, nearly twice the size of the soccer kids and twice as charged up for their task. Buzzcut stood at the forefront, bowling through a few soccer kids and stabbing a finger through the air at Killua and Gon.

"Join the judo team!" he hollered up the stairs. Killua winced, rubbing at his ears. The entire school probably heard that one.

"Really, Killua and I weren't planning on joining any clubs," Gon said. "We've actually got detention today.."

"Then next week!" Buzzcut pressed. "Monday, at the practice hall! If you don't come, you're a coward! Got it?!"

Gon blinked, completely speechless. Luckily, the following shouts from Cleft Chin and the soccer club drowned out Killua's snickering.

"Hey, we were talking to them first!" Cleft Chin stepped right up to Buzzcut, nearly matching him in height.

"Don't see what that has to do with anything!" Buzzcut shot back, practically spitting in Cleft Chin's face. "And really, you can have Rundell. Duras has the build for judo, so we'll be taking him."

("Ouch, sorry Killua," Gon whispered.

"Shut it.")

"You think you can just force him into your club because he's as beefy as the rest of you?"

"You wanna start something?!" If there wasn't spittle on Cleft Chin's face before, there certainly was now.

Killua tugged on Gon's sleeve to get his attention and made a few gestures while the soccer and judo clubs were facing off against one another. Gon grinned and nodded, checking up the stairwell with no regard for subtlety. Killua snorted.

As soon as they heard a teacher's voice from down the hall and the crowd diverted their attention, the two of them took the chance to split. Almost too fast to see, Killua darted past the cluster of students on the landing and down the next flight of stairs. At the same time, Gon jumped up the remaining stairs back up towards the upper floor, running towards the roof.

While Cleft Chin and Buzzcut stood their ground to face their teacher's wrath, the remaining members scattered and gave pursuit. Some went upstairs and some went down, but none of them were exactly sure where or how Gon and Killua had gone. 

  


Killua came to a rest outside the building, leaning against the wall beside the front entrance. A few departing students gave him a side-eye, which he returned with a halfhearted grin. The soccer and judo kids were so noisy, he'd hear them coming with plenty of time to circle around the building and meet Gon. He took a second to give Gon time to catch up when the steady stream of students was interrupted by a teacher—Gon's tutor. She turned and saw him immediately, her expression questioning.

"Don't you boys have detention?" she asked. She was a petite woman, short enough to remind him of Bisky but not nearly as pretentious. Killua had seen her around before but had never taken time to notice her. What was her name again?

"On my way there, ma'am," Killua said, pushing off from the wall.

"Since you're going to see him soon, would you do me a favor and give these to Gon?" She produced a small sheaf of papers from her bag, neatly clipped and marked with colored labels. "Tell him they're from Eirene. Because our lessons are suspended during his detention, he'll have to finish them on his own."

Of course Gon was already on a first-name basis with his tutor. Killua tried not to smile too much as he accepted the papers.

"No problem, Ei—er, Miss.."

She laughed.

"Well if Gon is going to do it, you might as well too. I'm glad I ran into you, Killua. Thank you for delivering Gon his homework."

"No problem, Eirene." It sounded strange coming out of his mouth. After so much time spent accustoming himself to school patterns in order to blend in, he'd almost forgotten how it felt to stand out. How did she already know his first name? Gon must have mentioned it to her, he realized. She departed with a light wave, leaving Killua with a handful of papers and a light blush on his nose.

  


Gon was waiting outside the multipurpose room when he arrived, his arms propped against the sill of an open hallway window. Killua came up behind him silently, but Gon's mouth twitched into a smile without having to shift his eyes.

"Ssh," Gon whispered. Killua smirked, coming up behind Gon's shoulder, shifting his collection of papers behind his back. With his extra height, he could see over his friend easily. "There's a baby skunkrat just under that tree."

Sure enough, when Killua followed Gon's gaze, he found a black and brown rodent rustling around in the weeds outside. Another cursory glance revealed its mother just behind the tree, keeping a watchful eye on her child. Gon observed the baby with almost as much care, Killua noted. He hadn't looked so awake since PE class.

"Do they spray when they're spooked?" Killua asked softly.

"Up to two meters." Gon grinned. Killua measured the distance between the skunkrat baby and their open window with a degree of trepidation. At the sound of footsteps behind them, Gon slid the window shut in a snap and whirled around to face the PE teacher, glowering at them. Behind her was another student, shoulders hunched over and hands stuffed in his pockets. Killua recognized him as a first year, but couldn't recall a class number or name.

"Glad to see you boys bothered to show up," she said, her voice awkwardly loud after their whispered conversation. Gon glanced towards the closed window, but the teacher had already walked past them to open up the multipurpose room and gestured them in. Gon and Killua entered first, followed by the other first year student.

The multipurpose room was a simple collection of desks on elevated platforms that extended upwards to the back of the room. Judging from the scuff marks and carved surfaces, the desks and chairs in this room were some of the oldest in the school. The other first year student shuffled straight to the back of the room, picking a desk in the far right corner. He settled into it with a determined slouch, scowling and adjusting the front of his puffed-up, bright red rooster cut. Killua nearly laughed. He looked like he'd stepped out of a TV drama or comic book.

Gon settled into a desk towards the front and Killua slid into a seat beside him. The PE teacher only turned her back on them briefly to write a short itinerary on the board. It read:

16:15 - 17:15

(1) Reflective essay (600 words)  
(2) Ball cleaning  
(3) Homework  


Brushing the chalk off her fingers, she turned to face her three charges.

"This should be fairly self-explanatory. There's paper up here if you need it." She smacked a ream of lined paper on the teacher's desk, then gestured to a beat-up cardboard box on the far side of the room. A bucket with a few old dish cloths sat beside it. "Balls are over there. I look forward to reading your essays, gentlemen."

She settled into a seat behind the teacher's desk and began grading a stack of student work, leaving them to their own devices. The kid at the back of the room skulked down to retrieve some paper, returning hastily to his seat. Killua leaned over and whispered to Gon exactly what his essay was meant to reflect.

"But I don't feel bad," Gon whispered back, looking genuinely concerned.

"Just pretend you do."

Gon pouted, but hunched over his ratty notebook and put pen to paper. Killua watched him out of the corner of his eye as he wrote a few words, yawned, stretched out his legs, balanced his pen on the tip of his finger. Killua almost reached over to poke him in the back of the head when something seemed to click in Gon's brain. He straightened up suddenly, then leaned over and started writing again. Once he got going, it looked like he wasn't going to be stopping any time soon. Killua turned his attention back to his own essay so that Gon didn't finish way ahead of him.

About forty minutes later, Killua looked up at the sound of Gon smacking his pen down on his desk, followed by a loud exhale. The teacher raised a brow at him from her desk, but her expression was softer than before.

"You all done, Killua?" Gon asked, stretching his back in his chair.

"Just about." Killua scrawled one last sentence and double-checked his word count. "Yeah, that's it."

"I'll take those up here." The PE teacher gestured for them to bring the papers down. "You can start cleaning. Jenan will join you when he's finished."

Gon snagged Killua's essay from his desk and trotted down to turn them both in. Killua glanced back at the first year, presumably named Jenan, who looked ready to tear his paper in half. With twenty minutes left on the clock, Killua followed Gon over to the box of old athletic balls and made a face at the sight of them. But before he could get a complaint out, Gon plucked a grass-stained soccer ball from the top and sat on the floor with it. Cradling it in his lap, he dunked one of the dish cloths and started rubbing it down with a vaguely contented smile on his face.

Ah, Killua thought, he's probably just glad that he doesn't have to sit down and write any more.

"So what did you write about?" Killua asked in a low voice, dropping down beside him. He picked a dirt-caked baseball. "It looked like you were really going at it."

"Ah, I just pretended I was writing to Mito-san," Gon said softly, grinning. "The rest was easy."

"Mama's boy," Killua teased.

"Sure am," Gon said, sticking out his tongue. They worked in relative quiet, occasionally cracking the odd joke about balls and snickering between themselves.

Fifteen minutes into their second penance, Jenan stood up with an exaggerated sigh. The PE teacher held out her hand wordlessly until he came down to the front of the room to hand in his essay. Making a show of his reluctance, he joined Killua and Gon at their ball-cleaning station. They had amassed small pile of balls on the other side of the bucket, clean or as clean as they were going to get.

Jenan glanced over his shoulder to check if the teacher was paying much attention, then leaned in towards Killua. The three of their turned backs made a half-dome of semi-privacy.

"So what did you guys do?" His eyes had a conspiratorial gleam.

"Nothing special," Killua said, shrugging.

"We got a little carried away during PE," Gon said, placing another clean baseball in the finished pile. Jenan scoffed, pointedly abstaining from touching any of the cleaning supplies.

"You mouthed off or something? Whatever, _I_ beat up a second year." He jabbed a thumb into his chest for emphasis. Killua and Gon glanced at one another, unsure of what to say to that. Jenan went on with his story, unconcerned. "I overheard him talking smack, so I got some friends and we jumped him after school." He pounded a fist into his palm to illustrate. Killua wondered for the second time if this guy was even real.

"That's dumb," Gon said, leveling Jenan with a flat stare.

"I know, ri—wait, the hell'd you say to me—”

"I mean, if he was saying bad things about you, then isn't it your problem?" Gon spoke like he was explaining the rules of a very simple game. "Bringing your friends into it is unfair. You should be able to take care of it on your own or just not let it bother you. Were you worried he'd beat you if you went alone?"

"Damn it, who the hell do you think you are—" Jenan started to say.

"He's got a point," Killua cut in. "In a way, it's the other guy's win. You resorted to underhanded tactics, which shows you were at least a little scared of him."

Jenan jumped to his feet, but whatever he had to say was cut off by the sharp beeping of an alarm from the teacher's desk.

"That's time, boys," she said, switching off the alarm. "You can leave the rest of the balls there, I'll have somebody collect them later. You're free to go."

Gon and Killua got to their feet, leaving the cleaning cloths draped over the bucket. Jenan fumed at them in silence, his hands balled into fists. Before they walked away, he cleared his throat and growled,

"Don't think that's the end of it. It's Gon, right? Gon and Killua. You better watch your backs."

"Hey, Gon," Killua ambled back to his desk to grab Gon's papers. "I got your homework from your tutor."

"Thanks! You met Eirene? She's really nice, right?"

Behind them, Jenan seethed with the righteous fury of the ignored. His stare bore down on them as they made their way out of the multipurpose room, as if his eyes alone could break them down to size. Killua barely made note of him out of the corner of his eye as they went out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Saturday!

When Alluka returned to the house from Saturday morning practice, Killua had barely finished putting lunch together. He was used to preparing food for the two of them, but adding another portion equal to his own took more time than he'd anticipated. There was not enough bread in the world (or at least in the breadbox) to create enough sandwiches as they needed. Instead, he scrounged together whatever was left in the pantry to create an extra dish. The smell filled their small kitchen and wafted down the hall. 

"Are you making macaroni?" Alluka asked from the door, poking her head inside. She still wore her school jersey, hair tied up and tennis racket slung over her shoulder. Killua glanced down at the pot in front of him, full of noodles, various cheeses, bacon bits, potatoes, beans, and sliced hard-boiled eggs. 

"Sort of," he said. He gave the mixture an experimental stir. "I'm basically done. Do you want to shower before we leave?" 

"No, I'll just be getting wet again when we get there." Alluka smiled, reaching back behind the door frame. "Guess who I found on my way home."

She pushed Gon into the kitchen. His silly grin only got wider when he spotted Killua in front of the stove top in nothing but swim trunks. He all but leered.

"Somebody was excited for today," Gon teased. Killua gave him a once-over and snorted.

"It's hot. And you're one to talk." 

Gon chuckled, adjusting his fishing pole, backpack, and duffel bag with great ceremony. He also wore swim shorts, comically incongruous with his green jacket and boots. 

"A true Hunter is always ready—"

"Yeah, yeah, help me get this packed up while Alluka gets changed." 

Gon all but dropped his gear on the floor and hurried over to help. Behind them, Alluka slipped silently into the hallway and up the stairs to her room. Old Zoldyck habits died hard, even in new homes. 

"Your place is really nice," Gon said, hovering near Killua's shoulder. "I want to see your room." 

"Next time." At Gon's crestfallen look, Killua shrugged. "It's nothing special. Can you pass those containers?" 

 

The lake in the foothills did not disappoint. Encircled by a dense forest and fed by a downhill stream from the mountains, the lake was quiet and clear when they arrived. Once they set down their supplies, Gon immediately got to looking for the highest place from which to jump into the water. 

"There." He pointed to a large boulder on the far end of the lake. 

"Let's swim over?" Killua asked, already pulling his shirt over his head and kicking off his shoes.

"You two go ahead, I'll catch up," Alluka said, waving them off. She pulled off her overshirt and folded it neatly with their things as the other two raced for the lake. Gon shucked his clothes as they ran, leaving them scattered along the path to the waterside.

As soon as Killua's foot entered the water, he shuddered from head to toe. How was it possible for a lake to be this cold in the middle of summer? Beside him, Gon yelped at the chill, but somehow that seemed to make him more excited.

"No.. problem..!" Teeth gritted, Gon stomped deeper into the water with determined splashes. As soon as he was deep enough, he submerged his whole body in one dunk. Killua pushed himself out to the same depth, shivering the whole way. 

"Oi, Gon—AGH." From beneath the surface, Gon wrapped his arms around Killua's waist and yanked him down. Killua went down thrashing, but unable to escape his fate. Moments later, the two of them popped up above the surface, laughing and shoving one another. By the shoreline, Alluka stood in a floral print bikini top and swim skirt, testing the water with her toes. 

"It's not so bad once you get your head under!" Gon called over to her. "Killua agrees!" 

Killua smacked a splash of water in Gon's face, reducing his laughter to garbled nonsense. The two of them tussled and took turns dragging each other underwater until Alluka waded out to join them. If the chill bothered her, it didn't register for a second on her sunny face.

The lake was long but the boulder sat across from them widthwise, just a short, brisk swim across. Gon dove and crested repeatedly in the most ridiculous butterfly stroke Killua had ever seen. Alluka, who had only ever seen breast stroke and front and back crawl, watched in enchantment. Killua didn't blame her; Gon made for a pretty spectacular sight when he went full throttle at anything. 

Once they made it over to the rock, Gon and Killua began a contest to see who could jump off and produce the biggest waves. Alluka gleefully judged while treading water, laughing when the resulting surges tossed her back from the point of impact. 

Gon won several times, due to his heavier and more compact frame. Killua ended the contest by pushing Gon's head underwater and doing his best to sit on him until Gon upended them both and sent Killua tumbling under the water with him. 

They broke for lunch on a picnic blanket by the lakeside. All the sandwiches and almost all of the macaroni monstrosity fell before their combined might. Only a small portion remained, which Gon squirreled away in one of the containers. 

"I want to have it for lunch tomorrow. Because Killua made it." 

After lunch, Alluka went for a stroll around the lake with her camera. Gon glanced forlornly after her, then sighed and unzipped his duffel bag. 

"I guess I might as well get it over with." He withdrew a binder of Eirene's papers and a hardcover biology textbook, setting them in his lap with a heavy thump. Killua promptly lay back onto the blanket and crossed his legs. 

"Let me know when you're done," he said. He folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. 

Not even _ten minutes_ had passed before he heard Gon moaning in irritation. Killua opened one eye to see Gon hunched over the open book, whining like a disgruntled puppy.

"That bad?" Killua asked. 

"None of these words mean anything," Gon said plaintively. 

"Aren't you supposed to be the expert on animals?" Killua pulled himself up to a sitting position. He leaned over to glance at the contents of the page. "Ah," he said. A full-body diagram of the human circulatory system filled the page. The skinless, thoroughly labeled man smiled up at Gon, taunting him. 

"I keep covering up the words and trying to memorize them like Eirene said, but it doesn't stick in my brain." Gon frowned at the diagram man. "I bet Leorio had to study this stuff too, didn't he?"

"Probably, but medical schools have mannequins and dead people to practice on," Killua said. His eyebrows raised. "Actually, that gives me an idea. Put the book down for a second."

Gon set the book beside them and shifted to face Killua, legs crossed and hands on his knees. Killua checked the book again, then poked Gon in the chest with his index finger. 

"What's this one?" he asked. 

"That's my heart, Killua, duh," Gon said, laughing. 

"Okay, and this one?" Killua shifted his finger up. Gon's laughter trailed off and he screwed up his face in concentration. 

"Umm—"

"It's your pulmonary vein. It's close to the aorta, that's here." Killua moved his finger slightly and tapped between the two spots. "Pulmonary vein, aorta. Above the heart." 

"Pulmonary vein, aorta," Gon repeated. "Above the heart." 

"The aorta extends all the way down here." Killua dragged his finger down Gon's chest, tracing the first few ridges of his abdominal muscles. "It's the biggest artery in the body. But I don't think that'll be on the test, just remember that it's above the heart in the diagram." 

"Okay," Gon said. He was strangely still beneath Killua's hand, his eyes fixed on Killua's face.

"Right, so." Killua collected himself and drew his finger back up to Gon's chest. "Heart, pulmonary vein, aorta. This is your carotid artery." He placed his finger against Gon's throat. He could feel Gon's pulse, steady and strong. "Your jugular veins are around here too. These are the ones that bleed out a ton when you slit someone's throat." 

"Mmm." Gon nodded in recognition. The soft skin of his neck flexed around Killua's fingertip. Killua withdrew his hand and shut the book. 

"Now say it back to me," he said. Gon's eyes drifted upwards as he tapped at the places where Killua had touched and mouthed the words to himself. Then, he leaned forward and placed the flats of his fingers on Killua's body. 

"Heart," he said, pressing gently on Killua's chest. He shifted his fingers up a touch. "Aorta. Pulmonary vein." Up higher, to the neck. "Carotid artery. Jugular vein." His callused fingers were rough against the smooth skin beneath Killua's jaw. Killua realized that he was holding his breath. 

"Yeah, good." When had his pulse increased? There was no way Gon couldn't feel it. Killua exhaled slowly, bringing his heartbeat under control. "See? Easy." 

Alluka came around the bend in the lake, humming to herself and swinging her arms at her sides. Gon lowered his hand and smiled. 

"Thanks, Killua." 

Killua shrugged and turned towards his sister. Seeing that she'd caught his attention, Alluka waved and gestured that she was getting back in the water. Killua gave her a thumbs up and a "go ahead" wave of the hand. Alluka let the camera dangle from its wrist strap so that she could form a heart with her hands and wink at the two of them through it. Gon, back turned, didn't see. Killua repeated his "go ahead" gesture more firmly. 

Gon looked up from the textbook, which he'd opened again to check his answers. 

"I'm glad Alluka came with us today." 

"Me too." Killua leaned back on his hands. "She was pretty excited to swim since she doesn't usually participate in the swimming classes at school." 

"Did you teach her how to swim?" 

"Just the basics. She said she wanted to learn to swim like you do." Killua grinned at how Gon's eyebrows perked up. 

"I can do that," Gon said. He started to push the textbook aside and get up when he stopped himself, frozen on his haunches. "..But maybe not right now." He settled onto his butt again. Heaving another dramatic sigh, Gon pouted at the ever-mystifying circulatory system. 

"You got four of them down pretty fast, the rest won't be hard." Killua pushed himself off his hands and pointed to the diagram. "Do you know the difference between an artery and a vein?" 

"No." Instead of looking at the book, Gon stared at Killua. "Do you remember all of this from last year?" 

"I already knew most of it. Illumi used to drill me on major veins and arteries. Some of it was new."

"You've got a really good memory, Killua." Gon smiled and took Killua's hand in his, bringing it towards his chest. "Can you show me the rest? This is way easier than the book."

For a moment, Killua couldn't say anything. He could hear the sounds of Alluka splashing in the lake and the ambient sound of the forest around them. He could feel Gon's hand, firm and warm, with just enough sweat to adhere its tough surface to Killua's skin. One of the lessons that Alluka and Nanika had taught him was that gratitude was more powerful than regret. And that the key to feeling grateful was to carve happy memories into your heart, like a protective charm. 

If it would allow him to recall this moment several years from now, he hoped that his memory was as good as Gon said. 

 

By the time they'd vanquished the circulatory system and taught Alluka the basics of the butterfly stroke, the sun was nearly down. They packed up their picnic supplies and Gon's neglected fishing pole to head home in the last remains of daylight. Alluka, eyes already drooping, consented to travel by means of Killua's back. Gon handled the majority of the luggage. 

"We should do something after school during the week," Gon said. "If Alluka has time after practice." 

Killua nodded gently so as not to rouse the sister in question. 

"I'll ask her when she wakes up," he said. "I'll introduce you to my friends too." 

Gon's eyes widened. 

"Killua, you have friends??" His smile spanned his face in surprise and delight. 

" _What the hell_ \--Of course I do, who do you take me for??" Killua scrunched up his eyebrows in irritation. He would have clocked Gon for that, were it not for carrying Alluka. 

"I want to meet them! All of them!" 

Killua ssh'ed him, narrowing his eyes. Gon clamped his lips shut but couldn't erase his smile, which made his face dimple like a chipmunk. Killua rolled his eyes. At least, he admitted to himself, he wouldn't have to worry about them liking Gon.

 

On Monday, the rain began during third period and showed no signs of letting up until evening. Outdoor club activities were cancelled, but Gon's tutoring session remained as scheduled. At least, Killua presumed so. He meant to ask about it during lunch, but Gon disappeared from their classroom shortly after fourth period. When Gon returned at the end of the lunch recess, he'd forgotten about it completely. 

Killua walked Alluka home in the rain, watching her twirl her pink umbrella and listening to her recount her day. It was slow, she said. Her year was making a big notice board with their personal resolutions for summer vacation. She couldn't write her real resolution, her nen training, so she wrote something about tennis practice. What would her big brother's resolution be, she wondered. 

"Who knows," Killua said. "Maybe if you can expand your en to twenty meters, I'll tell you."

Alluka stuck her tongue out at him, but still gave him a kiss on the cheek when they parted at the front door. 

"You're going back to meet Gon?" she asked. "Tell him to come over and play board games."

"I'll ask." Killua returned the peck on the cheek. 

 

"Gon?" Eirene blinked at Killua, packing up the last of her things. "He left a few minutes ago. He said that he had something important to do." 

Killua thanked her and shut the library door. He hadn't told Gon to wait for him, but he presumed that he'd be able to catch him before his tutoring session ended. If Gon had "something important to do," it was unlikely that he'd gone straight back to the dormitories. Was there anything particularly important that Gon was supposed to do today?

Buzzcut, Killua remembered. The judo club and their challenge. Because they practiced in their dojo, they didn't have to cancel on account of the rain. Gon probably wasn't worried about being labeled a coward, but maybe he felt bad about leaving them hanging. Killua sighed, turning to head down the stairs and towards the club buildings. More likely than not, Gon had flattened half of them already, but at least Killua could grab him before he gave any of them a rematch. 

The rain pattered down on Killua's umbrella, muffling the noise around him. If he had been in a hurry, he might have missed it. But because it was just the judo club and it was _Gon_ , he moved slowly enough to hear the sound of something heavy hit the ground behind the school building. 

Not too strange, he thought. There were scuffles back there sometimes. But just in case, he turned off his course and slipped around the side of the building. 

He peeked around the corner in time to see Jenan picking himself up off the ground, the back of his uniform slick with rain and mud. Just beyond him stood Gon, one palm outstretched. He wore a serious expression, incongruous with his rain-flattened hair. Killua tried not to snicker, mostly for Jenan's benefit. 

"It's good that you came alone this time," Gon said, lowering his hand. "It would've been unfair to hit your friends too. But I still don't think you had a good reason to call me out here." Killua watched Gon's face soften into a sympathetic smile. "It's just not worth it, you know? You can't go around fighting people whenever you get mad about something they say. Especially if it's true." 

Killua nearly dropped his umbrella so he could smack himself in the forehead. Where did Gon get off saying things like that? 

Jenan hung his head, his fists hanging uselessly at his sides. 

"I know," he grit out, nearly soft enough to get lost in the rain. "It's just. I want my bro to be proud of me. I want to be stronger—”

"Ah, Killua!" Gon interrupted. Jenan whirled around, locking eyes with Killua where he stood at the corner of the wall. 

"Yo," Killua offered. Jenan's mouth hung ajar. His waterlogged rooster cut dripped into his face. Even the secondhand embarrassment that Killua felt was fairly rough. 

"Anyway." Gon stepped over to Jenan, placing a hand on his shoulder. "That's good that you want to be stronger. I think your bro would want that too. You just have to actually do it instead of getting mad about it." 

"Gon—" Jenan began. His voice was hoarse. With one more pat on the shoulder, Gon moved past Jenan towards Killua.

Killua glanced over Gon's shoulder at the soaked delinquent behind him. Jenan still seemed at a loss for words, staring at the two of them with a mystified expression. He flexed and unflexed his fingers repeatedly, as if he couldn't decide whether to throw a punch at the back of Gon's head or reach out to call him again. There was something uncomfortably familiar there. Killua couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy when Gon turned his back on Jenan completely. For that very reason, he couldn't stand to look for too long.

"Don't mind me," Killua said, nodding back towards Jenan. He twirled his umbrella with what he hoped was an unconcerned shrug. 

"Nah, I think I'm done here." Gon slipped under Killua's umbrella without waiting for an invitation. Killua made space for him with only a small grumble. Gon grinned. "Were you looking for me?" 

"I thought you were at the judo club dojo." 

There was a moment of total incomprehension on Gon's face. Then he raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth in a silent "ohhh," followed by a sheepish laugh.

"I forgot all about that," he said. 

"Well, let's pretend I never reminded you. Alluka wants to play board games. Do you have much homework?" 

"Some, but I can finish it quickly if you help me again. Can we stop by the classroom to get my bag?" 

"You're hopeless." 

As Killua guided their shared umbrella back around the corner, he caught a parting sight of Jenan out of the corner of his eye. Brushing the gravel from his sleeves, Jenan pulled himself upright and turned to head the opposite direction. The set of his shoulders and his gait weren't that of a defeated man, but rather of somebody with new purpose. Killua came very close to stopping and calling him back. 

Don't expect this guy to fix all your problems, he wanted to say. He might look larger than life to you now, but Gon is a normal human just like us. He's got his own problems too.

But he kept his mouth shut. It wouldn't have made a difference. If Killua had been told that when he first met Gon, he wouldn't have listened either. Jenan would have to figure it out on his own. 

This wasn't all that surprising, Killua decided. This was just the effect that Gon had on people. Watching it happen to others was part and parcel of having Gon at the same school. 

"You're pretty brutal, you know," Killua said. He expected Gon to look confused ("Killua, what are you talking about?"), having pushed the whole thing aside already. 

Instead, Gon shifted closer to him under the umbrella and laughed softly. 

"Yeah, you're probably right." He lifted his hand and clasped it over Killua's on the umbrella handle. "Thanks for being my friend anyways." 

"..Don't mention it." 

Gon's hand was clammy from the rain, but Killua let it stay there until they reached the school building entrance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why didn't Alluka have club practice in the previous chapters? It was their day off. :P I'm just adding things as I think of them, please excuse the continuity errors.
> 
> ETA 8/9/15: fixed the sumo/judo typo at the end, ahaha orz


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Studying, friends, encounters.

"This," Alluka announced with all the fifteen-year-old gravitas that she could muster, "is my room." 

Gon whistled softly as he stepped over the threshold. Behind him, Killua leaned against the door frame and watched Alluka show Gon around. They had rented the house fully furnished, but Killua insisted that they take the extra effort to redecorate Alluka's room. From the color scheme to the arrangement of furniture, she chose everything. She had clearly been paying more attention on their world travels than Killua thought because she immediately decided on a modern rococo theme, primarily lavender with highlights of white and pink. 

The bed and the vanity were the most eye-catching pieces in the room, both featuring ornate swirling patterns and gold accents. Photos from their travels encircled the vanity's central mirror, along with various letters and gifts from Alluka's friends. Killua had been willing to buy her a desk, but she said that she preferred to do her homework downstairs or in bed. 

"You picked all this out by yourself?" Gon asked, running his hand over the plush lavender bedspread. It featured an intricate shell pattern that matched the engravings on the bed frame. "This is way better than I could do."

"Oniichan helped," Alluka said, plopping down at the foot of her bed. The few stuffed animals near her pillows were the only childish element of the otherwise maturely designed room. 

"I assembled some furniture." Killua waved it off. "And bought a teddy bear or two. The rest was all Alluka." 

After she'd spent years staring at the same cartoonish wallpaper and playing with the same outdated toys, helping to make a place that Alluka could truly call her own was the least that Killua could do. 

"You need to show Gon your room too," Alluka said. She picked up one of her textbooks from her nightstand. 

"All right," Killua said, waving Gon over. He could take a hint. "Don't stay up too late." 

"Is yours purple too?" Gon asked, following him out the door. 

"I told you it was nothing special, didn't I?" 

Killua's room lay just down the hall, separated from Alluka's by a bathroom. Once inside, he switched on the light, dropped his bag, and flopped down on his bed with much less ceremony than his sister. 

"Aw, that's it?" The disappointment in Gon's voice was clearly exaggerated. Killua shrugged.

"A room is a room, it gets the job done. Besides, you've never even had a room that Mito-san didn't keep and clean for you."

"You got me there," Gon laughed, tossed his bag beside Killua's, and flopped down on the bed beside him. Unlike Alluka's full size mattress, Killua slept on a twin. He had to scoot over considerably to make space for both of them. 

Killua's room had changed little from when they moved in. Designed to fit just about anyone, most of the interior was navy, black, or white. It had the basic amenities: bed, desk, dresser, mirror. The most personal element, his trip photos, were taped haphazardly above his bed and desk. Killua watched Gon's eyes wander over the photographs, the corners of his mouth quirking up at the sight of certain images. 

"You printed out the photo I sent with the swans." Gon grinned.

"It was a nice photo." 

"This one of the three of us at the World Tree is good too." 

"That one's a copy, Alluka's got the original in her room." 

"You deserve nice things too, you know." Gon rolled onto his side to face Killua. "Alluka's room is perfect for her, you should have one that you really like too." 

Gon's face was too close. Killua scooted back until his butt was nearly off the side of the mattress. 

"What does it matter? We've got this whole house to take care of, redecorating is just a pain in the ass." He sat up and reached over Gon to retrieve his bag. "Come on, we've got tests next week and you're going to fail them if you spend all night griping about interior design."

 

They rearranged themselves on the bed several times before reaching equilibrium. Killua sat leaning against his headboard and the wall while Gon sprawled out on his stomach at the foot of the bed. A river of books and notes ran between them, threatening to spill onto the floor. Killua scrawled down practice problems from his math textbook, coating sheets of notebook paper in near illegible numbers and figures. He could only imagine what Gon's practice work with Eirene looked like. 

Gon paged through his world history textbook, eyes running over each page. After a moment of watching him, Killua realized that rather than reviewing the first third of the book and the content of their test, Gon had skipped to the back: the most recent material. It only took another glance to identify maps and diagrams of the Mitene Union.

Killua said nothing, but Gon noticed him looking before long. 

"Netero isn't in here," Gon said. He flipped past a page with a bold header: The Fall of the Republic of East Gorteau. "Neither is Kite."

"That's right, you were out of it during the big news cover-up." Killua set his notebook down and unfolded his legs. "Nobody we know is in there. There's probably a whole lot missing from those books." He knew for a fact that a few "mysterious assassinations" of certain political figures wouldn't be so mysterious in the Zoldyck household. If he asked Kurapika or Leorio to go digging in the Hunter Association classified archives, there was no telling how much more they could uncover. 

"Makes you wonder how many great people aren't mentioned," Killua added absently. “You're not in there either.”

Gon glanced up. 

"What?" 

"You were a part of the Expedition Team with the rest of us." Killua leveled his gaze with his friend. "Gon, you're the only person who managed to kill a Chimera Ant Royal Guardsman. You were stupid and reckless and nearly killed yourself, but you did it and survived." The memories twisted something deep in Killua's gut, but it wasn't as bad as it used to be. 

"With Alluka's help." Killua made a noise of agreement. Gon continued, looking back down at the book with an unreadable expression, "But I never thought about it like that." 

Killua followed Gon's gaze to the book and wondered, if Gon hadn't occupied Pitou after they healed that girl, would the operations in the palace have turned out differently? Obviously some events would have changed, but it was impossible to know precisely how. Killua didn't want to think about it. Instead, he observed the bewildered look on Gon's face.

"Well, you weren't thinking about ending up in history books. You were just doing what you wanted, as usual." Killua paused. "Does it bother you?" 

"...Not really," Gon decided. "Kite said that it was better that ordinary people don't know about the existence of Chimera Ants. It would be easy for the wrong people to do bad things with that information. So long as the important people know what happened, it's fine." 

"Yeah? And who are the important people?" 

Gon turned and fixed Killua with a grin that rendered the answer unnecessary.

 

Killua got used to seeing Eirene leave the library first after Gon's tutoring sessions. Rather than scolding him for loitering, she greeted him with a smile and a wave, which he returned. Gon emerged from the library shortly after Eirene. Killua pushed off the wall and started to head downstairs.

"You don't smile at any of the other teachers," Gon said, falling into step beside Killua. 

"She's nice and she's helping you. Got a problem?" 

Gon snickered. 

"Being in school with Alluka has made you nicer too. Leorio would be happy to see it." 

"I was always nice," Killua scoffed. "We're meeting my friends now, you can ask them."

"I forgot, that's today!" Gon's face lit up. The two of them descended the stairs, Killua with his hands in his pockets and Gon with a bounce in his step.

"I can't believe you thought I had no friends." Even with an exaggeratedly disbelieving tone, Gon only laughed in response. 

"You didn't say anything about them, how was I supposed to know?" 

They exited the school building to the bright glare of the afternoon summer sun. Groups of students ambled across the front grounds, heading home from their after school activities. Killua pointed to a pair leaning against the school gates, one short and bespectacled and the other curvy and tall. Both wore boys' uniforms.

"That's them," he said. As they approached, Gon waved and only one of them returned the greeting. 

"Hi!" Gon said, once they were close enough. "I'm Gon Fr—Duras! And you're Killua's friends!"

"Sure are! Through thick and thin. Not that many others would put up with him." The taller one, the one who returned the wave, smiled and put out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Gon. I'm Sanasz. Any friend of Killua is a friend of mine. You need anything, you make sure to let me know." 

Gon took her hand and shook it firmly, beaming. Sanasz clasped her other hand on top of his and gave an emphatic nod, making her dark curls bounce on her head. Killua held back a laugh and waited until they were done with their moment.

"This is Hakkym," he said, gesturing to the short boy with glasses. "Hakkym, Gon."

Hakkym shot Killua a put-upon glare, then held his hand out towards Gon. If Gon caught the disdain emanating from Hakkym's limp handshake, he didn't let it dampen his cheer. 

"A pleasure," Hakkym intoned. "Heard a lot about you." 

"You have?" Gon blinked and glanced toward Killua. Killua pointedly avoided eye contact and cleared his throat.

"Anyway, they're in the second year so that's why we don't see each other much at school. We have to meet up after class or during lunch break if we want to hang out at all." 

"Ahh, ok. How did you meet?" Gon asked. 

Killua and Hakkym exchanged a glance, a smirk unfurling on the latter's face. 

"Killua found me when he was still in junior high because he heard that I ran a poker circle in the dorms." 

Gon furrowed his brows for a moment before his mouth opened in sudden understanding. 

"I forgot Killua liked gambling! Like the slots on Greed Is—!" Gon cut himself off suddenly at a sharp look from Killua. 

"You've snuck into casinos too?" Sanasz laughed. "Did you come out of the womb throwing dice or something?"

"Maybe he'd be better at it if he did." Hakkym smiled, a bit more genuinely this time. He produced a deck of cards from his uniform pocket and started idly shuffling them back and forth between his hands. "So are we going to play today?" 

"Yeah, that was the plan." Killua turned to Gon. "How about it, you interested? I'll lend you the buy-in if you're low on cash."

"I don't really know the rules but sure, if—"

The latter half of Gon's sentence was drowned out by a booming voice from across the grounds. 

"GON!!"

Killua was already rolling his eyes as he turned to find the source of the noise. It didn't sound like Buzzcut, Cleft Chin, or Jenan, but it wasn't hard to pick out the offending student from the crowd. The broad-shouldered, fuming student marching toward them was a dead ringer. Several other students gave him a wide berth, a few of them pointing and whispering. As he walked, he tugged off his uniform jacket and slung it over his shoulder. In his other hand, he held a worn out metal baseball bat. 

"Isn't that Drigo from the third year?" Sanasz glanced between Killua and Gon. "Did Gon do something to piss him off?" 

"Not that I remember.." Gon scrunched up his brow in thought. Meanwhile, Drigo closed the distance between them until he was just a few paces away. Before Gon could pull himself from his attempt at recollection, Drigo planted his feet firmly and leveled the baseball bat in Gon's direction.

"Fight me, Gon! Nobody hits my little bro and gets away with it!" he snarled, his knuckles turning white around the bat's grip. 

"Ah!" Gon brightened. "I get it now!" 

"God damn it, you making fun of me?!" Drigo stamped his foot and shook the bat at Gon. "I said let's go, so let's go!" 

At this point, more than a few students had stopped to gawk from afar. Killua sighed and put a hand on Hakkym and Sanasz's shoulders, gently guiding them away from the school gate. 

"I'll just meet you guys at the dorms in a few minutes.."

"Does Gon need help? We can help him," Sanasz pushed back a little, but Killua shook his head. 

"It's really fine." 

"You did say he's the type to find trouble," Hakkym mumbled. He took Sanasz' arm and tugged her away, despite her glancing over her shoulder several times to make sure that Gon was fine. Killua smiled faintly. 

Behind him, Gon laughed awkwardly and took a few steps back, crossing over the boundary of the school gates. 

"I really don't want to fight," Gon said, holding up his hands.

"S'not my problem." Drigo cracked his neck and took a few steps forward, following Gon out of the gates. 

"Did you talk to Jenan about this? I bet he'd say that it's fine, we don't have to fight." 

"You calling my little bro a coward??" Before Gon could counter that, Drigo lowered his bat and shifted his feet. "Forget it. That's enough chat." 

Drigo lunged at Gon with a shout, swinging the bat from the right. Gon, unfazed, caught it and swiveled his body to the right so that he could pull it from Drigo's hands. Drigo stumbled forward, disoriented, and Gon shuffled back a few more steps, facing away from the row of bushes and trees and lined the walkway.

"Your name is Drigo, right?" Gon flipped the bat in his hands and, like crumpling a piece of paper, crunched the bat in half. The metal screeched a loud protest in contrast with Gon's apologetic smile. "I'd really like if we could be friends." 

Drigo gaped at the v-shaped bat, words failing him. Gon opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped and glanced over his shoulder at the bushes behind him. His eyebrows furrowed in concern, then rose in realization. In those moments, Drigo recovered his senses. Smacking his fist into his palm, he shook the daze off.

"Y-You think that's enough to scare me? Bring it." Drigo rolled up his sleeves and lowered himself into a boxer's stance. Gon sighed.

"Alright."

The moment that Drigo launched himself at Gon again, Gon tossed the crumpled bat into the bushes behind him and jumped up into the air. Drigo, his punch sailing through empty air, followed him up with his eyes. This distracted him from the high-pitched squeak from within the bushes, as well as the sudden noxious spray that followed. Drigo's face instantly contorted into a revolted pucker, the fumes coating him from head to toe. 

Killua was immediately very glad that he chose to watch the exchange from the gates. Gon had mentioned that skunkrats could spray up to two meters. 

While Drigo gasped and grabbed at his nose, coughing amidst the stink, Gon disappeared into the treetops above. Killua took that as his cue to make an exit as well, slipping around the gatepost and away from the commotion. Something told him that even if he tried to help, Drigo would need some time alone to cool off. That, and Killua didn't want to be anywhere near that smell. 

 

Killua canvassed the forest around the school until he found Gon, perched on a shady branch in a cluster of trees near the boy's dormitory. It wasn't very difficult to track him. Gon's movements were predictable unless he really didn't want to be found. Killua moved without making any noise, but Gon's eyes flicked upward to catch him coming just before he landed. The branch only swayed the slightest bit as Killua settled down beside him. 

"So skunkrats." 

"Mm," Gon said. "I think there's a family of them living near the school. Someone should probably tell the groundskeeper so that nobody accidentally destroys the nest." 

"Yeah, it wouldn't be good if somebody made a big scene and drew a lot of attention to them." 

Gon half-smiled and pulled one knee up to his chest so that he could rest his chin on it. 

"I'm not doing a very good job of helping you lay low, am I?" 

"Well so far you've gotten us a detention, decked another student, and made a great first impression on my friends—" Gon groaned and Killua laughed. "— _but_ it could be worse. Plus, you uncovered some local wildlife and taught Alluka the butterfly stroke. That has to count for something." 

That got a real smile out of Gon, albeit a weak one. 

"You and Alluka really like it here," he said, glancing back towards the school buildings. "I'd hate it if it was my fault that you had to move." 

"Well then stop standing out so damn much." Killua meant it mostly in jest, but Gon hunched over and seemed to be seriously considering how he could manage that. As if by making himself physically smaller he could minimize the Gon Effect. Killua rolled his eyes and shoved him lightly. "I'm kidding. You'll find some way to resolve it without beating anyone up, I trust you." 

"You'd tell me if I became a threat to your cover, right?" 

The smile faded from Killua's face. He turned his hands over in his lap and cracked his knuckles one by one. 

"Cover only has so much to do with it. We're just lucky that Illumi hasn't been in the mood to hunt us seriously since I last fought him." Killua took a deep breath and exhaled it. "The worst thing is that if he really wanted to, he'd be able to find us no matter what I did. There's always the chance that he might. Until then, I'm just making it a pain in the ass. So it's not so easy that he has an excuse."

"Illumi can't be that good." Gon wrinkled his nose. "You're smart and fast and crazy strong; you'd definitely be able to take care of him even if he got serious."

"You've never seen my brother get serious," Killua said in a low voice. A stale silence hung between them until Killua snorted and waved his hand. "Don't get me wrong, I'd still kick his ass and protect Alluka. I just don't want to endanger anyone in the school."

"If that ever happens, you know I have your back," Gon said, clenching his hand into a fist. "I still owe you and Alluka my life." 

"Just try to do it without blowing up half the campus." Killua elbowed Gon in the side, eliciting a very un-stealthy squawk. Gon batted Killua's hand away and laughed. 

"I can see why you want to protect this place. You've got some nice friends." Gon grinned cheekily. "Doesn't Sanasz remind you of someone?" 

Killua blinked and formed a mental picture of Sanasz: curvy and dark with big, round eyes, a little too over-protective, sincere to a fault. He glanced at Gon again, who had placed his index fingers over his eyebrows and was wiggling them enthusiastically. 

Killua nearly groaned aloud when he realized what Gon was getting at.

"..oh _come on_ , she's nothing like Ikalgo!"

Gon lost himself to laughter, nearly falling off the tree branch. Killua folded his arms and crossed his legs, waiting for Gon to calm down. 

"Killua has a type he likes, huh." Gon wiped away tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. 

"Shut it. And don't you dare tell her that, you'll definitely let it slip that he's an octopus." 

"I have a great poker face," Gon said, even as giggles threatened to unseam his lips. 

"Right. Well let's go meet up with Sanasz and Hakkym and you can show it off."

They descended from the trees and strolled into the boy's dormitory like nothing happened. If word about Gon, Drigo, and the skunkrat had made it back already, it wasn't immediately obvious. Nobody looked at them twice. Gon waved and smiled at everyone as usual. Walking by his best friend's side, it was easy to pretend that the upcoming tests were the biggest problem on their minds. If he could, Killua wanted to keep it that way as long as possible.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethics is apparently a component of high school curriculum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! I realize it's been quite a while since I last updated and I apologize. Life got a little crazy. u_u With the way things currently are, I've lost too much momentum to keep writing this fic. To be honest, I never really had a clear idea of how it was going to end in the first place. I just wanted to write a bunch of cute scenes of Gon & Killua at school, ahaha. 
> 
> That said, I had a few of these scenes written out and just sitting around, so I thought I would finally post them. They don't make a full chapter and there's no real ending, for which I apologize again. Still, better something than nothing. Thank you for reading this far! I appreciate all the support.

Gon had either the worst poker face in the world, or one of the best. 

The four of them, Killua, Gon, Hakkym, and Sanasz, sat on the floor of Hakkym's dimly lit dorm room, huddled around a deck of cards and poker chips. These were all contraband in the eyes of the school, so they only played when it was late enough that the resident advisors wouldn't pop in for unscheduled checks. It required Killua sneaking off-campus in the middle of the night, but Hakkym and Sanasz had little idea of just how childishly simple that was for him.

It was the seventh hand of the night. The players with the most chips were, in order: Sanasz, Killua, Hakkym, Gon. Hakkym had just shuffled and dealt. As soon as Gon peeked at his cards, his eyebrows shot up on his forehead. But just as quickly, he forced his expression to even out and glanced around the circle. Tried to play it cool. Killua bit back a snicker.

Hakkym narrowed his eyes at Gon. Killua could just imagine what was going through Hakkym's mind. In the first few hands, Gon's face had lit up for good hands, fallen for bad ones. But for the last three turns in a row, Gon had reacted almost the exact same way regardless of the content of his hands. It was elementary bluffing, but how much was it appropriate to second-guess somebody so guileless? 

Sanasz folded. Gon, Killua, and Hakkym carried out one round of betting. Hakkym shot Killua a half-lidded stare, then folded on the next turn. Killua grinned throughout the remainder of the betting. 

"You ready, Gon?" 

"Yeah! One, two, three!"

They flipped over their cards in tandem. Gon had one pair of fives. Killua's hand, meanwhile: one pair of sevens. 

"Aww, I thought for sure you had nothing." Gon pouted. 

"Are you serious?" Hakkym sighed and tossed down his hand: one pair of queens. Killua cackled and gathered up the chips in the pot, which placed him firmly in the lead. Gon waved goodbye to his chips, only mildly forlorn, mostly joking. 

"You've gotta mix up your bluffing game, Gon," Killua chided, collecting the cards. "Even when you think you're doing the same thing, you're not."

"This is way more complicated than rock-paper-scissors," Gon whined. 

"As much as I hate to quit while Killua's ahead," Sanasz cut in. "It's getting late. I'll gamble with your money, but not Alluka's peace of mind. Time to go." 

"Right, right." Killua gathered the cards into a neat deck and handed it to Hakkym. "You can all keep playing, though. Just divide my chips between the three of you."

"Actually, I've got another game we can play." Hakkym whisked the cards behind his back and turned to Gon. "And you might just learn a thing or two about reading people. You like rock-paper-scissors?" At Gon's enthusiastic nodding, he continued. "Ever heard of weighted rock-paper-scissors? It's like the normal game, except when you win with rock, you get three points, and scissors gives you two points..."

Killua smiled as he pushed himself to his feet in the midst of the explanation. Sanasz looked up from sorting stacks of chips to wave goodbye. Gon also glanced to the side just for a moment to chirp, "bye, Killua!" Hakkym glanced sideways at him just long enough to catch Killua's appreciative nod. 

And with that, he was out the window and into the night.

 

 

Killua wasn't quite sure what to make of the pamphlet on his desk. On its cover was a digitally edited photo of rolling green hills, dotted with trees and dappled with sunlight through puffy white clouds. The title, in friendly block letters, read "An Introduction to Ethics for High School Students." He imagined it was issued by the Yorubian government, one of the many ways of inculcating the youth with the same set of values as the incumbent generation. It was particularly funny to see it at a school like theirs, full of teenage miscreants and idlers.

While their homeroom teacher prattled on in the background, Killua turned to hand the last copy to Gon. Their eyes met over the cheerful green cover. 

"Ethics?" Gon read aloud. A few heads turned. Gon was not particularly good at remembering to whisper in class. 

"Apparently. Did you study this before?" Killua asked softly. Gon instinctively matched him. 

"Nope. Have you?" 

"This will be a first." Killua could only imagine what warped versions of "ethics" texts could be found in the Zoldyck family library. Their homeroom teacher cleared his throat at the front of the classroom.

"Mr. Rundell, please face forward. Mr. Duras is capable of following my instructions on his own."

Gon grinned sheepishly as Killua turned around in his seat. The friendly ethics handbook sat waiting for him on his desk, just where he'd left it. Following after the rest of the class, he opened up to the first page. 

 

 

The third floor of Gon's dorm building had a lounge that was normally occupied by the members of the boy's basketball team, but was relatively vacant during club practice hours. With Alluka at tennis and Gon given rare reprieve from his tutoring sessions, the two of them hunkered over the coffee table to attack the ethics homework. 

"Killua, what did you put for—"

"There's no right answer, Gon." 

"But I don't—" 

"We'll compare when we're done, geez." 

The introductory survey was a collection of questions meant to "get students thinking about their existing ethical stances." The majority of them were open ended and featured scenarios such as: "You find a wallet on the ground with a picture ID and five thousand Jenny in cash. What do you do?" 

Killua scribbled down the first answers that came to mind. 

As the survey went on, the questions got longer and darker. Number thirteen read: "There is a runaway train car rushing down the tracks. Five people are tied up on the track and will be run over and killed. You are standing in front of a lever that can switch the car to another track. On the other track is one person, also tied up and unable to move. Do you switch the tracks and have the car kill one person, or watch the car kill the five people on the current track?"

Killua frowned at the answer sheet. Did the government seriously put this out for high school students?

A few minutes later, Gon threw his head back and exhaled like a whale surfacing for air. 

"Done!" he breathed. The relaxation was short-lived. Snapping up onto his haunches, he dove across the table towards Killua's answer sheet. "Let's compare!" 

"Too slow!" Killua snatched up his survey at the last second, holding it aloft as Gon narrowly avoided smashing his face into the table. But rather than whining, Gon simply settled back onto the floor and picked up his own survey again. 

"What did you write for number seven? The one about the river?" he asked.

Killua skimmed his paper again. Number seven: "A dog and a human stranger are drowning in a river. You can only save one of them. Which one do you save?" 

"This question is weird," Gon complained. "Why can I only save one of them? I'm pretty sure I could get both, dogs aren't that heavy." He made a noise of consternation and rubbed his neck.

"Yeah, but you need to choose one, that's the point of the question," Killua said, tapping his paper.

Gon contorted his mouth and hmm'd and furrowed his brow until his face was more wrinkle than human. Then with a sigh, he said, "I guess the dog. How about you, Killua?" 

"I'd save both."

"Hey, no fair!" Gon leaned across the table and punched Killua in the shoulder. 

"What? Not my fault the makers of the survey didn't account for someone as fast as me." Killua shrugged and fanned himself with his survey. 

"Yeah, that's true I guess. So what does it mean?" 

Killua glanced back down at his answer sheet. There was no scoring guide, only the assumption that they'd go over it tomorrow in class. Killua's handwriting was little better than chicken scratch, mostly illegible to anybody but Gon and Alluka. His answer to number seven, at least, was relatively easy to make out. In all lower case and with no punctuation: "the stranger"

 

 

The next time they ate lunch with Alluka, Gon tried his best to explain the concept of weighted rock-paper-scissors. 

"...and paper only gives you one point. And first person to five points wins! So you'd think that rock is the best, right?" Gon gestured animatedly with his fist. "Because you get the most points with rock and you can win in two turns! But if you keep throwing rock, then the other person can beat you five times in a row with paper and win that way." 

"I think I get it," Alluka said, making a rock-fist with her small hands. "So you have to guess if your opponent is the type to try to get a fast win or the type to play it safe." 

"Basically. It's a lot harder than I thought." Gon laughed. "The more I try to think about it, the more confused I get." 

"Did you ever manage to beat Hakkym?" Killua asked. 

"Once!" Gon grinned. "He's really good! I don't think I understand him well enough yet. But I bet I'll get it if I keep playing him." 

Killua wasn't sure what he had expected when he introduced Gon to his friends at school. He didn't imagine that Gon would have a hard time getting along with them, necessarily. Gon had always had a knack for endearing himself to people, he'd had it ever since they were kids. But something had changed in him in the years that they'd spent apart, something that Killua was slowly starting to recognize as they spent more time together in this tiny corner of the world. 

He wondered if Gon had noticed anything about the ways that he had changed too.

"Want to play me?" Killua asked. He held up a loosely curled fist and smirked. 

Gon regarded him wordlessly for a moment. There was a slight trepidation in his demeanor, the way his hand stilled before he brought it up to match Killua's. Then it was gone, replaced by the familiar challenger's gleam in his gold eyes. 

"You've always been better than me at this," Gon said, flashing a grin. He did not look particularly daunted anymore. What had been the cause for his moment of hesitation? That he could read Killua too well, or not well enough?

"I'm willing to be surprised," Killua said. For a change of pace, he started them off: "First comes rock..."

 

 

On days that it was too rainy to be outdoors and the third floor lounge was occupied, they retreated to Gon's dorm room to study. Gon spent most of his time out around campus and brought few of his belongings to begin with, so the room had little to mark it as his own. Pieces of his uniform and gym clothes were hung over the bed posts and chair, the desk strewn with papers and open books. Killua peeked into the open closet half-expecting to see a ratty old green jacket, despite knowing that Gon was several sizes too big for it now. 

Gon set his bag down beside the bed and cleared off some space for them both to sit. The desk, strangely, did not seem to be an option. 

"I didn't think they'd have us writing essays so quickly," Gon said. He leaned over to retrieve his supplies from his bag. Killua took a seat next to him on the bed. 

"The whole idea of writing ethics essays is kind of dumb," Killua said. He shuffled through his bag to retrieve his own papers. "It's not like writing something on paper means that you'll actually do it when push comes to shove." 

"No, probably not," Gon agreed. "What's your prompt?" 

Killua snorted and read from his assignment sheet, voice dripping with irony.

"'Should children be allowed to play with toy guns and swords? Does this promote violent behavior in children?'"

Gon stared wide-eyed at him. 

"Is that something that people actually worry about?" 

"Beats me. What's yours?" Killua nodded at Gon's folders. 

"Ah, it's—" Gon pulled the first sheet out and read aloud. "'When is it acceptable to lie? Or should one always tell the truth?'" 

Killua said nothing. Gon made a tight-lipped smile and slipped the paper back into his folder. Then, setting the folder down, he stood up and crouched down beside the bed. 

"That reminds me, I wanted to give you something," he said. Gon pulled a suitcase out from underneath the bed frame and unlatched it. From where Killua was sitting, he could see various jackets and shoes, a few books, and some wrapped packages within. Gon picked a thin leather-bound volume from among the books and shut the suitcase again. 

"You're giving me extra homework at a time like this?" Killua asked, raising a brow. Gon laughed and sat down beside him again, handing over the book. 

"Here, just skim through it." 

Killua removed the elastic band holding the cover in place, flipping it open to the first few pages. The contents were handwritten, marked with a date at the top of each of the pages. The handwriting was Gon's. 

"These are some of my journal assignments from when I was taking remote classes back home. This book is all entries about Greed Island," Gon explained. "I was thinking about our conversation about history, then playing games with Hakkym and Sanasz reminded me of the time we spent in Dorias. And I realized that I want you to have this."

Killua looked up to meet Gon's eyes. The words from their previous conversation echoed in his mind. So long as the people who mattered remembered what they'd been through, that was enough, he'd said. 

"Are you sure? It must've taken ages to write all this." Killua thumbed through the roughly bound pages. It was filled from cover to cover. 

"Yeah. Besides, you probably remember a lot of the things I've forgotten. You can remind me of what they are once you have a chance to read it." Gon smiled brightly. "And I wasn't around for your birthday, so this can count as a late birthday present." 

Killua snorted at that, holding up the supposed present. 

"I didn't get you anything, though. And does it still count if you're over a month late?" 

"I think so," Gon said. He leaned over and pressed the book firmly into Killua's lap. "And I don't need anything. So happy late birthday, Killua." 

Killua pressed his fingers into the soft leather cover. It was sentimental, just another thing for him to have to tote around with him, but he'd be lying if he wasn't a little happy to receive it. 

"Thanks, Gon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you have any questions about the unresolved story lines, feel free to ask! I'll try my best to answer.


End file.
